


A Beating Heart

by SparklyTeardrop



Category: Cruel Intentions (1999)
Genre: Character Death, Death, Dream Sequence, F/M, Jealousy, Pining, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2020-01-11 06:27:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18424767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SparklyTeardrop/pseuds/SparklyTeardrop
Summary: Like a damaged butterfly without wings- she fell and Sebastian wasn't there to save her.





	A Beating Heart

**Author's Note:**

> This was written in 2015 when I rewatched this movie. Forgot this fic even existed until I was sorting through my archives. Enjoy. (P.S. This fic has not been fully edited yet)

Kathryn walked into the room and saw Sebastian staring outside the window with a pair of binoculars. She paid it no mind and said. "I just had a nice chat with Cecile. I don't think she'll be giving you anymore problems."

"Yippy!" He said with false enthusiasm and further furrowed his eyebrows in frustration. His stepsister, seeing his distress asked him curiously. "Who are you spying on?"

"Take a look for yourself." He said and handed her the binoculars. Kathryn saw a blonde girl leaning on a tree, who had her hair in pigtails. She instantly knew that it was her, the one and only bet between Kathryn and Sebastian.

"Jesus! She reeks of Laura Ashley." She said in disgust as she saw her reading a book. Annette Hargrove started to tear up as she further engulfed the contents of the book she was reading. This lead to the further dismay of the Merteuil heiress. "Oh, she's crying. Wittle baby's upset by the big bad book."

Sebastian suddenly snatched the binoculars from her hand and said. "Shut up!"

Kathryn had her mouth agape slightly, but she covered up her surprise by asking him. "What's your problem?"

"Nothing." He said quickly, wanting to take back his actions. It was out of impulse that he had snapped at Kathryn.

"She's seriously getting to you, isn't she?" She stated in pure amazement since she could finally realize that the virgin had that much of an effect on her stepbrother.

"If you must know, yes. I don't know what to do. I can't stand that holier than thou bullshit and yet, I'm completely infatuated with her." He paused with a sigh and confessed. "She made me laugh."

Mentally Kathryn laughed before asking with raised eyebrows in accusation. "And that's why you're losing your bet?"

Sebastian's jaw tensed slightly, but he denied such statement by saying. "I'm not losing the bet. It's just taking longer than I expected."

His sister, seeing his distress, further tempted Sebastian by walking around him with the perfect sway in her hips to allure him. "Do you mind if I take my new Jag for a ride?"

Her eyelashes batted at him innocently and Sebastian had to bite his lip to control himself. His arms scooped her lithe form and his mouth whispered in her ear. "Kathryn, the only thing you're going to be riding is me." He said huskily as the spaces between them were only centimeters apart. There was a raw sexual tension between the two and the both of them knew that. It was very tempting because if either one of them moved, their lips would touch and such an occurrence was very tempting indeed.

Sebastian took this as a chance to even out their score when it came to Kathryn teasing him on the couch a few days ago and without any notice he decided in his mind to leave her at such an inopportune time. It was because of her that he had to take a long, long cold shower and now it was time to return the favor. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some work to do."

Kathryn was left in a sexually frustrated heap as she stared at her brother reaching for the door. She contemplated on wether or not she should say something about his sudden personality change. She bit her bottom lip in contemplation and thought. 'Oh, fuck it.'

"Sebastian wait." She called out to him as he drew near the door. "I'm not the type to worry about your well- being, but I would really like to point out that that virgin hypocrite is changing you."

Her brother only furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "And in what way would she be 'changing' me as you so put it." He quoted 'changing' in the air as to further mock Kathryn.

She chose to ignore his immature comment and said directly to the point. "You're becoming soft. If you had to choose between me and Annette, which one would you choose?"

Sebastian hesitated for a second but quickly said. "You of course. Isn't that an obvious answer." At first it sounded hollow to him, like he was unsure that that statement really did come out of his mouth.

Kathryn noticed it too and she said. "You had a moment of doubt Sebastian. She's changing you and I'm afraid that you might not be the same stepbrother I knew. If you don't get your shit together, I'm calling the bet off." Her hand caressed his right cheek affectionately. "I can't loose one of my much more intelligent minions, now can I?"

Kathryn's statement threw him off a bit, but Sebastian knew that this was how Kathryn Merteuil acted. She covered up her concern with snark insults and sarcastic statements. It made him truly wonder if he was changing, since his stepsister would have never interfered if it were only minor differences.

\----

"Sebastian!" A voice shouted his name. He recognized it, of course he did, he would be a fool not to be familiar with the voice, as he did spend half of his life as her stepbrother.

"Sebastian!" A shriek broke through. It was more terrified, more fearful than Kathryn's own cry but at the same time it's naivety sounded appealing. Like something instantly drew himself to the source of the voice.

His vision started to materialize and it revealed Kathryn and Annette separately bound by a rope on opposite sides, of what seemed to be like, a really tall infrastructure. The winds were strong and billowing, causing both women to have trouble balancing and both barely held on for their lives.

"Sebastian. Help me!" Came the demanding order of Kathryn. She looked mad, angry but at the same time strong and independent. There were traces of horror on her face, but she didn't allow any of it to show as always she was strong no matter what the situation. But Sebastian knew better, beneath the perfect mask of a princess was a cocaine addicted yet equally vulnerable little girl that was forced to grow up earlier than most children.

"Sebastian!" He tore his gaze off of the brunette and looked at the struggling Annette. She was crying with tears on her face. Puffy red eyes and cheeks and it was obvious that she was terrified. Something about her made Sebastian want to wrap her up and protect her goodness from the world. She was a rare sight in the world, a person made of pure goodness and innocence.

He didn't know what to do, the ropes were obviously about to snap and Sbastian could only save one of them. The howling of winds were much more stronger, with the women's limbs tied in a rope cocoon- it was impossible for them to save themselves.

Sebastian would have to choose. He was torn, his mind spoke of a name while his heart spoke of another. Choose Sebastian, day or night? Good or evil? Angel or devil?

Their pleas of help molded into one deafening shout and as the strongest gust of the wind blew, Sebastian ran blindlessly to an unknown direction. His body leaped as his hands grabbed a flailing arm. When he opened his eyes, he saw a head of blonde hair and he finally realized- he had saved Annette. His eyes widened as he heard the shouts of Kathryn falling to her death, all of it seeming unreal.

"If you had to choose between me and Annette, which one would you choose?" Her question echoed through his mind and his eyes widened, he had chosen Annette and not his sister. 

"No." He muttered at the terrifying thought. He would have never chosen someone over Kathryn, from the beginning it was always the two of them against the world- like two peas in a pod. But why did he save Annette.?

"You're changing Sebastian." Came her answer to his question. "You're becoming soft."

"No I'm not." He tried to argue with her, but he knew that it was a hollow quarrel for he cannot win. The proof of his loss was holding on right now on his arm and the thought made him feel sick.

"She's changing you. You're going to leave me for her." Her voice was now in a much more louder manner and echoed through the nonexistent walls that it almost seemed deafening. Sebastian cried out as the sound was so ear splitting, but Annette continued to dangle from his hand and then it was quiet- eerily quiet.

"You don't love me any more." Was her simple statement. It cut through the silence like a knife and it weighed heavily in his mind. Sebastian stared at Annette, she was smiling and full of hope. He used his free hand to grab hers and Annette thought that he was going to pull her up, but he pried her fingers of his arm and he let her fall to the abyss with a face barren of emotions.

"Goodbye, Sebastian." The fog at the bottom of the building finally cleared and he was able to perfectly see Kathryn's corpse. She was bloodied and her neck twisted in an inhuman-like angle. Her legs were sprawled, as were her arms, but her eyes remained unfazed- it continued to remain unblinking.

He woke up with a start. Kathryn's dead corpse haunted him as he tried to breath evenly. Sebastian decided to rush to his stepsister's room in fear that the dream was real. His sister was still alive wasn't she? The great Kathryn Merteuil couldn't die yet she was the immortal bitch of New York. She couldn't die- he wouldn't let her die.

\----

Prior to Sebastian's dream, Kathryn Merteuil was having the time of her life. The music from her speakers were blaring so loudly that she couldn't hear herself think, or was the melody just inside in her head? As she smashed another bottle of perfume across the wall, she could only laugh as it shattered to a million pieces and the shards of the glass bottle looked like miniature stars for a millisecond.

Kathryn was high. She didn't know if it was after her third dose of LSD or before she took her fifth snort of cocaine or was it just because of mixing some alcohol in between her drug intake.

'I am in control.' She kept telling herself, although she knew that it was a big lie. In all honesty, Kathryn didn't know why she decided to have a large intake of drugs- perhaps it was because of her stressful manipulative planning between Cecile's demise and Court's downfall, maybe it was because of her female parental unit who kept stressing and bossing her around or maybe it was out of a broken heart, if she ever had one.

No matter what her reason was, the truth of the matter was Kathryn felt fucked up. Her head was spinning and her room was now in the color of rainbows. Echoes of different voices were now in her head, but she still felt giddy- it was like she was on cloud nine.

"Kathryn." She whipped her head to see her full length mirror across the room. It was now in a magical color of swirls. Like a fantasy land you could only see in movies.

"Kathryn." It called out again in a dreamy, wispy voice. "Come closer."

As if in a trance like state, she walked forward. Her long legs strode across the room as she kept walking- feet slowly following a slow steady pace until she started running towards the voice in an excited manner. Mind not fully comprehending the dangers of her actions until she fully smashed against her reflection- it’s shards flying across the room in a beautiful frozen moment. Like a damaged butterfly without wings, she fell to the floor. Despite her bloodied and bruised body, Kathryn smiled- chuckled and then her full laughter echoed throughout her room.

A knock interrupted her and came the concerned voice of her brother. "Kathryn?"

She could only laugh, but it was drowned out by the blaring music. On the other side of the door Sebastian knew that something was wrong. His sister hated listening to obnoxiously loud music unless it was during a party or her traditional drug intake. Sebastian could only hope that right now it was not the latter.

"Kathryn." He called out to her more worriedly as he tried to open the locked door knob. Sebastian finally had enough and forced his way inside, while his heart heated frantically. He knew that he would only calm down once he saw that Kathryn was still in one piece and perfectly fine.

The double doors finally budged and he entered the room, terrified of the sight that befell him. He saw her laughing form laid on shards of mirrors as bits and pieces pierced through her skin. His vision flashed for a moment as he remembered the corpse of Kathryn, that was in his dream. He rushed forward, as his shoes made a crunching sound when he stepped on the glass.

"What did you do?" He asked her and cradled her lithe figure. His heart was pumping so hard out of nervousness and tears started to prickle his eyes. What had been Kathryn's reason for her to do this?

"The voices told me to do it." Her voice was slightly hoarse. Sebastian cupped her cheek as he observed nasty cuts on her face. He was worried. Kathryn had some form of relapse as they grew up, but this was one of the worse state that he had seen her in. He was crying now, nothing mattered anymore besides Kathryn Merteiul.

"What voices?" He asked in panic as he tried to dial 911 on his phone.

"The voices in my head." She said happily and laughed at the end. Kathryn buried her face on the crook of Sebastian's arm. He turned his head and saw the stack of drugs on Kathryn's vanity mirror and also some bottles of booze lined up on the wooden table.

'Jesus, Kathryn what were you thinking?' He thought. He was finally able to dial 911 and he said to his phone. "Hello, my sister she's- she's injured. She has cuts and bruises everywhere."

God, he couldn't think straight and his hands were shaking to much that he couldn't properly hold his phone but still Sebastian tried to grit through his tears and explain the situation. Once he finished the call, he carefully carried her downstairs to the awaiting ambulance.

"Am I going to die?" She asked innocently with a smile as they were inside the ambulance and then suddenly tears escaped her eyes. "You're all leaving me." She sobbed and the sight made Sebastian melt, he rarely saw his sister vulnerable and her saddened face made his heart clench.

"I wouldn't mind dying, if it meant not being alone anymore." She confessed in her drugged stupor and his hands gripped hers automatically. "No Kathryn. I'll stay with you. I'll even call the bet off, just promise me you'll stay alive." He pleaded as he held her small hands in between his. She smiled briefly and started to close her eyes.

"No Kathryn don't you dare close your eyes on me." He begged her which said a lot since Sebastian Valmont never begged, but Kathryn was an exception- she was always an exception.

"But, I'm so tired Seb." She used an old nickname that she used to call him as a kid and it brought memories back to her brother, but he forced himself to focus on the present. His sister was his past, present and future and he had to ensure that there was a tomorrow for them to look forward to. After all who was Sebastian Valmont without the great Kathryn Marteuil.

His heart dropped as he heard the heart monitor slowing and the paramedics around him immediately sprang into action. "We're loosing her." One of them said and the other grabbed a defibrillator and Sebastian could only stare as his sister's chest heaved up and down in a fight to stay alive.

"You can't die. You can't die." He whispered to himself like a prayer. He was dazed and felt like everything around him was unreal. Kathryn can't die, not yet. Not yet. "Don't you fucking die on me Kathryn." He found himself desperately shouting at her half dead body. The heart monitor beeped rhythmically and that was the only thing Sebastian heard, until silence.

\---

Annette Hargrove entered Manchester Prep with hesitation. This was new grounds for her seeing as they didn't have schools like these from where she came from. An institution that was enrolled by the richest members of the Upper East Side. Sometimes she had to blink and ask herself if she was truly standing here.

At first it was the perfect monotonous cycle of first day of classes up until she saw him- Sebastian Valmont. The sight of him still caught her breath away and she would be lying if she said that she wasn't infatuated with him. Who wouldn't? With his curly dirty blonde locks, chiseled cheeks bones and his million dollar charming smile, he could easily have any girl he pleased.

The thought made Annette frown. Earlier this summer she thought that there was a spark between them and they could have actually had the chance to be a couple, but suddenly he stopped talking to her or even approaching her. She thought of many reasons as to why he halted being in contact with her and the most probable cause she thought of was another girl that piqued his interest further than she did.

How right Annette was when she saw a brunette walk towards him and Sebastian tucked her under his arms. She had to admit that the girl was pretty, beautiful even and there was something about her that gave off an irresistible allure.

"Who is that?" She found herself asking her school tour guide, Ashely who was a blonde herself and was slightly petite.

"Oh you mean Sebastian? Don't even try to go there Annette." Ashley warned her and the other blonde shook her head. "No not him, the girl with him."

The blonde's head turned and saw who Annette was referring to. "That's Kathryn Merteuil, student council president, valedictorian, the perfect model student. Shame though looks like she's going out with the school's bad boy."

So that's why Sebastian suddenly stopped courting her. He found a much more innocent target, if only Annette knew. "But don't you think it's the perfect fairy tale, the bad boy falls in love for the nice girl. Such a romantic love story isn't it?"

Annette could only nod monotonously as she stared at the couple. They seemed perfect for one another, but something was odd about them- it's as if there was something more beneath the first impressions. She could only shrug it off as she turned to head for her next class with Ashley. 

As the hallways emptied, Kathryn smiled at Sebastian and the two walked towards an empty and unused closet. He brought out her cross necklace from underneath his shirt and gave it to her.

"We're limiting your drug intake okay?" Sebastian reminded her before completely handing her the hollowed crucifix.

"What are you going to do dad?" She mocked him with a childish face. "Take all my toys away?"

"No. I'm just going to distract you." She gasped as she felt his hands underneath her shirt. His teeth nipped at her neck and he muttered. "Don't ever scare me like that again."

Kathryn only chuckled and she said. "You're not going to get rid of me that easily Sebastian, besides if I'm finally going to face the gates of hell I'll make sure that you'll be there with me."

"And together they became one with darkness and forever they remained as one."


End file.
